iPhones Banned

Members of the government have been forbidden from bringing iPhones to cabinet meetings.

After the FSB asserted that Washington monitors the activities of users of Apple equipment, it has become illegal to enter a government meeting room with Apple devices. This applies to vice-premiers, ministers, and other participants in government meetings.

In addition, White House staff was informed by the head of the government staff that it was no longer possible to use iPhones in the workplace (and in general at work).

Banning phones from government meetings began 15 years ago, immediately after Putin became prime minister in 2008. Deputy prime ministers, ministers, and invited participants in government meetings were required to hand over not only iPhones (almost no one had them then), but all phones. But after a few months, the ban was for some reason lifted, and members of the government began not only to bring their devices into the hall, but also to talk on them before meetings, and also place them on the table during discussions.

Dmitry Medvedev, when he was both president and prime minister, came to meetings with an iPad and encouraged digitalization among his subordinates. Medvedev had two official iPads, where materials for meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers and other meetings were uploaded. A special person accompanied Medvedev on business trips, and made sure that the iPads had the most up-to-date information (devices were not connected to the Internet, so everything was uploaded manually).

current Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is also thought to be a lover of modern devices. In the 2010s, he was one of the few officials who had an iMac computer in his office. But those were different times...